Chiral O(Q^4) two-body operators for s-wave pion photoproduction on the NN system

The two-body currents for s-wave pion photoproduction on the NN system are derived to O(Q^4) in chiral perturbation theory. For the interesting case of 3S1 1S0 transitions, we show that an axial isovector two-nucleon contact term connects the short-distance physics of pion photoproduction to pion production and several important electroweak reactions. We also find that the standard chiral Lagrangian gives a gamma pi pi N N vertex that have not been explicitly mentioned in previous literature. The corresponding Feynman rule is presented here and some processes where it should be important are briefly discussed.Comment: 9 pages, REVTeX, 1 eps figur

An explanation of the ABC enhancement in the dd -> alpha X reaction at intermediate energies

The dd -> alpha X reaction is studied in a model where each pair of nucleons in the projectile and target deuterons undergoes pion production through the NN -> d pi reaction. The condition that the two deuterons fuse to form an alpha-particle then leads to peaks at small missing masses, the well-known ABC enhancement, but also a broad structure around the maximum missing mass. With a simplified input amplitude the model gives a quantitative description of both the alpha-particle momentum and angular distributions for a deuteron beam energy of 1250 MeV.Comment: 10 pages, Latex2e, 1 eps figure, submitted to Phys. Lett.

Separation of Soft and Hard Physics in DVCS

A model for deeply virtual Compton scattering, based on analytical light-cone hadron wave functions is presented and studied at energies currently accessible at Jefferson Laboratory and DESY. It is shown that poles and perpendicular vector components play an important role at Q^2 < 10 GeV^2. A Q^2 suppressed diagram has to be included at these low energies, but becomes negligible above 10 GeV^2. Future prospects and developments of this model are discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, uses ws-procs9x6.cls, to appear in Proceedings of the Exclusive Processes at High-t Workshop at Jefferson Lab, May 15-18 200

The Virial Equation of State of Low-Density Neutron Matter

We present a model-independent description of low-density neutron matter based on the virial expansion. The virial equation of state provides a benchmark for all nuclear equations of state at densities and temperatures where the interparticle separation is large compared to the thermal wavelength. We calculate the second virial coefficient directly from the nucleon-nucleon scattering phase shifts. Our results for the pressure, energy, entropy and the free energy correctly include the physics of the large neutron-neutron scattering length. We find that, as in the universal regime, thermodynamic properties of neutron matter scale over a wide range of temperatures, but with a significantly reduced interaction coefficient compared to the unitary limit.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, minor revisions, to appear in Phys. Lett.